Catch can mentioned on tv show

I watch Street Outlaws and the last few episodes have mentioned catch cans on their drag cars. One driver actually blamed himself for not checking his catch can before a race. It overflowed and released oil onto the track. It caused him to lose traction which he blamed for losing the race. On another episode another driver talked about emptying his before a race. I'd never heard of a catch can before reading about them on this site and now they're being mentioned on television. I don't use one but obviously they do perform a function if racers are using them on high performance, high dollar drag cars.

There's a time and a place for them; some engines don't need them, others do. The hemi is one that benefits from a catch can because of how much oil vapour is generated in the crankcase that would otherwise go into the intake manifold and combustion chamber.

I've also seen them mentioned on car fix on the velocity channel. I love my occ that I got from Moe's Performance.


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Just a heads up. If your catch can is full, its not going to start spilling out onto the ground. It will just continue to circulate into your crankcase.

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Street outlaws is scripted. It's all fake. There is no way a catch can will spill onto the ground.


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Yeah he would have to dump it for that to have happened.


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anthony2558 said:

Just a heads up. If your catch can is full, its not going to start spilling out onto the ground. It will just continue to circulate into your crankcase.

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Divi said:

Street outlaws is scripted. It's all fake. There is no way a catch can will spill onto the ground.


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whetrick1 said:

Yeah he would have to dump it for that to have happened.


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It totally depends on what type of catch can being used:

the standard on a hemi is a sealed catch can that is mounted in-line with the PCV system and remains closed loop and when it gets full you don't recirculate back into the crankcase, you spill liquid oil/water directly into the intake manifold which is a bad thing.

Vented catch cans are used when there is no vacuum source and attempts to keep the crankcase at atmospheric pressure but requires blow-by from the cylinders to generate the outflow pressure. If a vented catch can gets full it will overflow directly out of the can to the atmosphere and can leak to ground. Vented catch cans are common on boosted setups.

Here's my old engine bay, the green can on the left is a sealed catch can, the silver can on the right is a vented catch can.

It looked like he had 2 vented catch cans mounted near the radiator so of they were full they could spit oil out on the track

I didn't know they still used vented catch cans.


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charonblk07 said:

It totally depends on what type of catch can being used:

the standard on a hemi is a sealed catch can that is mounted in-line with the PCV system and remains closed loop and when it gets full you don't recirculate back into the crankcase, you spill liquid oil/water directly into the intake manifold which is a bad thing.

Vented catch cans are used when there is no vacuum source and attempts to keep the crankcase at atmospheric pressure but requires blow-by from the cylinders to generate the outflow pressure. If a vented catch can gets full it will overflow directly out of the can to the atmosphere and can leak to ground. Vented catch cans are common on boosted setups.

Here's my old engine bay, the green can on the left is a sealed catch can, the silver can on the right is a vented catch can.

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That is one sweet ass looking engine bay. That clear coolant hose is really cool looking.

I would bet all the fast ones are running pan evac systems. Catch cans are not allowed in most NHRA pro classes and street outlaw cars have next to no manifold vacuum (so you plumb it through the exhaust).

catch 22 said:

I would bet all the fast ones are running pan evac systems. Catch cans are not allowed in most NHRA pro classes and street outlaw cars have next to no manifold vacuum (so you plumb it through the exhaust).

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I was running one for a while but it wasn't that effective compared to my new setup, I also melted the hose running to the exhaust scavenger fitting, twice. I now run a dedicated vacuum pump for crankcase vacuum through a 2 stage catch can and pull off both sides of the engine with a breather on the oil cap, I no longer have issues with fumes in the cab or lack of crankcase ventilation and with the vac pump I'm running 14inmg continuously so I have much better ring sealing than before.